Measures recently rolled out to cap benefits and impose sanctions against those deemed unwilling to work are squeezing incomes and causing hardship, according to the head of a Catholic charity, who says her clients have become increasingly fearful for the futureIn my job, running the Cardinal Hume Centre in London, I hear different people’s stories all the time – some of them break your heart and some of them are heart-warming, but it is the heartbreaking ones that are on the rise.If you walk down Victoria Street in the evening these days, you may well see the sort of conditions that made Cardinal Hume set up the centre 27 years ago. That was in the mid-1980s, when the level of street homelessness was at a high. Outside Westminster Cathedral, halfway down Victoria Street,
12 December 2013, The Tablet
Through the safety net
Life on the margins in London
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login